Virtualizing tcp/ip services with shared memory transport

ABSTRACT

A method for testing a client service locally using a shared memory transport is presented. The method may include recording a plurality of interactions between the client service located in a local host and a real server. The method may include generating a virtual server based on the recorded plurality of interactions. The method may include deploying the generated virtual server in the local host. The method may include executing the client service. The method may include receiving a TCP/IP request from the client service. The method may include converting the received TCP/IP request to a shared memory request. The method may include sending the shared memory request to the virtual server. The method may include receiving a shared memory reply from the virtual server. The method may include sending the shared memory reply to the client service.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, andmore particularly to virtual service testing.

Modern business systems have evolved into more complicated systems builton a variety of service components that interact with each other.Testing each service against one another is often necessary to ensurethe quality of the whole system. Communication between services mayutilize different communication protocols, such as Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and shared memory.

SUMMARY

According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for testing a clientservice locally using a shared memory transport is provided. The methodmay include recording a plurality of interactions between the clientservice located in a local host and a real server. The method may alsoinclude generating a virtual server based on the recorded plurality ofinteractions. The method may include deploying the generated virtualserver in the local host. The method may then include executing theclient service. The method may further include receiving a TransmissionControl Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) request from the executingclient service. The method may also include converting the receivedTCP/IP request to a shared memory request. The method may then includesending the converted shared memory request to the virtual server. Themethod may further include receiving a shared memory reply from thevirtual server. The method may also include sending the received sharedmemory reply to the client service.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a computer system for testinga client service locally using a shared memory transport is provided.The computer system may include one or more processors, one or morecomputer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable tangiblestorage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of theone or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one ormore processors via at least one of the one or more memories, wherebythe computer system is capable of performing a method. The method mayinclude recording a plurality of interactions between the client servicelocated in a local host and a real server. The method may also includegenerating a virtual server based on the recorded plurality ofinteractions. The method may include deploying the generated virtualserver in the local host. The method may then include executing theclient service. The method may further include receiving a TransmissionControl Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) request from the executingclient service. The method may also include converting the receivedTCP/IP request to a shared memory request. The method may then includesending the converted shared memory request to the virtual server. Themethod may further include receiving a shared memory reply from thevirtual server. The method may also include sending the received sharedmemory reply to the client service.

According to yet another exemplary embodiment, a computer programproduct for testing a client service locally using a shared memorytransport is provided. The computer program product may include one ormore computer-readable storage devices and program instructions storedon at least one of the one or more tangible storage devices, the programinstructions executable by a processor. The computer program product mayinclude program instructions to record a plurality of interactionsbetween the client service located in a local host and a real server.The computer program product may also include program instructions togenerate a virtual server based on the recorded plurality ofinteractions. The computer program product may then include programinstructions to deploy the generated virtual server in the local host.The computer program product may further include program instructions toexecute the client service. The computer program product may alsoinclude program instructions to receive a Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) request from the executing clientservice. The computer program product may then include programinstructions to convert the received TCP/IP request to a shared memoryrequest. The computer program product may further include programinstructions to send the converted shared memory request to the virtualserver. The computer program product may also include programinstructions to receive a shared memory reply from the virtual server.The computer program product may then include program instructions tosend the received shared memory reply to the client service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following detailed descriptionof illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings arenot to scale as the illustrations are for clarity in facilitating oneskilled in the art in understanding the invention in conjunction withthe detailed description. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a networked computer environment according to atleast one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a local client service testing systemaccording to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an operational flowchart illustrating a process for TCP/IP toshared memory communication according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of internal and external components ofcomputers and servers depicted in FIG. 1 according to at least oneembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative cloud computing environmentincluding the computer system depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of functional layers of the illustrative cloudcomputing environment of FIG. 5, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosedherein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments aremerely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may beembodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theexemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplaryembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the scope of this invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the description, details of well-known featuresand techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresented embodiments.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method,and program product for testing Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) services using shared memory transport protocols. Assuch, the present embodiment has the capacity to improve the technicalfield of virtual service testing by simulating TCP/IP communication to aremote service using a local service through shared memory transport.More specifically, real service interactions are recorded and then avirtual server is deployed locally to simulate a remote service.Thereafter, a policy agent is installed and TCP/IP requests to thevirtual server are converted into shared memory requests and then routedto the virtual server. After the virtual server accepts and processesthe request, the response is routed back to a client using the sharedmemory protocol.

As described previously, modern business systems have evolved into morecomplicated systems built on a variety of service components thatinteract with each other. Testing each service against one another isoften necessary to ensure the quality of the whole system. Communicationbetween services may utilize different communication protocols, such asTCP/IP and shared memory. Shared memory may be advantageous due to thespeed at which communication may occur, thus allowing a single server tocommunicate with multiple clients in both directions. However, sharedmemory protocol may only be used within a single physical machine; assuch, all processes using shared memory may only run on the samecomputer. Many software products use the TCP/IP protocol since theTCP/IP protocol allows for communication between different physicalcomputers (communication between different peers). TCP/IP may addcomplications, resulting in the expenditure of many resources forprocessing data exchanges. When testing clients that communicate viaTCP/IP protocols with one or more remote services (i.e., servicesrunning on a separate physical server), not all of the servicesnecessary to complete the test may be available. Therefore, it may beadvantageous to, among other things, provide a way to test a clientservice by simulating client TCP/IP communication with a real service ona remote server through the use of shared memory transport communicationwith a virtual service running on the same local host as the client.

According to at least one embodiment, a remote (in another physicalmachine from the client) TCP/IP service may be emulated using a local(in the same physical machine with the client) service through sharedmemory transport. At the start, TCP/IP packets may be recorded andextracted from recorded requests/responses from a client to a remotereal service. Then, the data payload from TCP/IP packet may be extractedand converted into a shared memory request. A local simulation servicemay also be generated based on the TCP/IP service, whereby thesimulation service may interact with the client using shared memorytransport to process the converted shared memory request. Thereafter,new TCP/IP requests may be intercepted dynamically and converted from aTCP/IP request into a shared memory request and routed to the previouslygenerated simulation service for integration testing through a policyagent. Thus, the conversion to a shared memory request may betransparent to a client service under test while taking advantage of thebenefits of shared memory instead of using TCP/IP.

Client TCP/IP exchanges between the client and the real service to besimulated (or virtualized) may be recorded for use in later virtualtesting. Since the virtual testing may be localized within the clientsystem, only the real server running the real service may need to bevirtualized on the client-side system for local testing. A simulatedservice, or simulated server, may be generated to simulate the behaviorof the real service to eliminate system test dependencies and reducesetup and infrastructure costs associated with traditional testingenvironments. A virtual server may be created and the generated virtualserver may subscribe to incoming shared memory requests dispatched froma policy agent of a client. Additionally, the virtual server may sendthe response directly to the clients using shared memory communication.As such, the virtual server may be deployed and enabled first to providethe virtual service in the virtual server locally, similarly to how thereal service runs locally within the real server.

The policy agent running on the client may convert the incoming TCP/IPrequest to a shared memory request and operate as a client router todispatch the converted request to the virtual server using shared memorytransport. According to at least one embodiment, the conversion may onlybe used to convert incoming TCP/IP requests to shared memory requests.According to at least one other embodiment, the outgoing shared memoryrequest from the virtual server to the client may be converted back intoa TCP/IP request. TCP/IP data packet requests (and responses) follow TCPstandards to append a data segment to a TCP header and encapsulate theheader/data segment into an Internet Protocol (IP) datagram forexchanging between peers. By leveraging the TCP/IP format, the IPencapsulation and TCP header may be removed from the data segmentpayload. Thereafter, the data payload may be converted into a sharedmemory format for use within the virtualized testing environment on theclient. Shared memory may be efficient for perform reading and writingsince shared memory operations are based on regular operating systemservices running on the client. For example, using a designated area ofshared memory on the client, data can be made directly accessible toboth sides (i.e., client and virtual server) without having to usetraditional system devices (e.g., modem or network adapters) for readingand writing operations. In many testing scenarios, virtual testingexchanges may be the same data format as the requests recordedpreviously, such as TCP/IP datagrams (i.e., packages). Thus, requestsmay be strictly encapsulated according to the defined TCP/IP format.However, the policy agent installed on the client may be used to convertdata formatted as TCP/IP packages sent from the client nodes to a sharedmemory (SHM) package structure.

The data payload converted from TCP/IP to SHM may then be dispatched tothe corresponding virtual server via shared memory transport to peers.Dispatching may be performed by a client router within the policy agenton the client. Furthermore, by identifying the SHM segment header in theconverted data package, the client router may identify the virtualserver that the converted request should be sent. Once the destinationvirtual server is identified, the SHM request may be sent be the clientrouter via shared memory transport to a server router. After receivingthe request data from shared memory transport, the server router maydispatch the SHM request to the virtual server. A SHM response may alsobe sent back to the client in similar fashion from the virtual service.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary networked computer environment 100 inaccordance with one embodiment is depicted. The networked computerenvironment 100 may include a computer 102 with a processor 104 and adata storage device 106 that is enabled to run a software program 108and a client testing program 110 a. The networked computer environment100 may also include a server 112 that is enabled to run a clienttesting program 110 b that may interact with a database 114 and acommunication network 116. The networked computer environment 100 mayinclude a plurality of computers 102 and servers 112, only one of whichis shown. The communication network 116 may include various types ofcommunication networks, such as a wide area network (WAN), local areanetwork (LAN), a telecommunication network, a wireless network, a publicswitched network and/or a satellite network. It should be appreciatedthat FIG. 1 provides only an illustration of one implementation and doesnot imply any limitations with regard to the environments in whichdifferent embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted environments may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

The client computer 102 may communicate with the server computer 112 viathe communications network 116. The communications network 116 mayinclude connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, orfiber optic cables. As will be discussed with reference to FIG. 4,server computer 112 may include internal components 902 a and externalcomponents 904 a, respectively, and client computer 102 may includeinternal components 902 b and external components 904 b, respectively.Server computer 112 may also operate in a cloud computing service model,such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), orInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Server 112 may also be located in acloud computing deployment model, such as a private cloud, communitycloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud. Client computer 102 may be, forexample, a mobile device, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, anetbook, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, orany type of computing devices capable of running a program, accessing anetwork, and accessing a database 114. According to variousimplementations of the present embodiment, the client testing program110 a, 110 b may interact with a database 114 that may be embedded invarious storage devices, such as, but not limited to a computer/mobiledevice 102, a networked server 112, or a cloud storage service.

According to the present embodiment, a user using a client computer 102or a server computer 112 may use the client testing program 110 a, 110 b(respectively) to test client services designed to communicate viaTCP/IP with remote services in a local testing environment with virtualservices using shared memory transport. The client testing program 110a, 110 b is explained in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 2 and3.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a local client servicetesting system 200 according to at least one embodiment is depicted. Thelocal client testing system 200 may include a local host 202 (e.g.,client computer 102) that conducts virtualized testing by simulating thebehavior of remote servers 112 communicating with client 204 a-dservices over a communication network 116 using TCP/IP packages. Thelocal host 202 may include the clients 204 a-d, a policy agent 206 thatruns the client router 208, a server router 210, and a virtual server212 that simulates the server 112.

Clients 204 a-d under test within the local host 202 may communicatewith the real server 112 using TCP/IP exchanges. The TCP/IP requests andresponses between the clients 204 a-d and the server 112 may be recordedand a virtual server 212 may be generated and deployed within the localhost 202. Additionally, a policy agent 206 may be deployed in the localhost 202. The policy agent 206 may handle converting the TCP/IP requestsfrom the clients 204 a-d into shared memory (SHM) requests. Based on theTCP/IP header information, the client router 208 within the policy agent206 may determine the destination virtual server 212 and route the SHMrequest to the destination virtual server 212 or server router 210. Oncethe converted SHM request is dispatched from the client router 208, theserver router 210 may route the SHM request to the virtual server 212.Thereafter, the virtual server 212 may send a response using SHM to theserver router 210. The server router 210 may then route the SHM responseto the proper client 204 a-d.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an operational flowchart illustrating theexemplary TCP/IP to shared memory communication process 300 used by theclient testing program 110 a and 110 b according to at least oneembodiment is depicted.

At 302, interaction between clients 204 a-d and a real service runningon the server 112 is recorded and copies of the TCP/IP packets exchangedare saved. A record component program (e.g., software program 108) maybe deployed on the local host 202 to record TCP/IP packets exchanged(i.e., request and reply interactions) between the client 204 a-d andthe server 112 using known methods. For example, if clients 204 a-dcommunicate with a service on server 112 using TCP/IP packets, therecord component may read the data within packets being transmitted fromthe client 204 a-d services to the server 112 and packets transmitted toone of the client 204 a-d services from the server 112. Furthermore, therecord component may record copies of the packet data in a datarepository, such as a database 114 or a data storage device 106.

Next, at 304, a virtual server 212 is generated and deployed locallywithin the local host 202. Based on the data packet interactionsrecorded previously at 302, a virtual server 212 may be generated thatmay simulate the behavior of the server 112 using known virtualizedservice generation methods. The virtual server 212 may then be deployedwithin the local host 202, thus virtual testing may be carried outwithin local host 202. Complications from using a real system (i.e.,server 112) may be avoided since the virtual testing only relies on thelocal host 202. The virtual server 212 may behave equivalent to the realserver 112 based on the packet exchanges recorded, thus using the realserver 112 may not be needed to conduct testing of the client 204 a-dservices. Additionally, a server router 210 may be installed to routerequests to the virtual server 212 and to route responses from thevirtual server 212 to the proper client 204 a-d.

Then, at 306, after the virtual server 212 is active, a policy agent 206is installed within the local host 202. The policy agent 206 may performtwo functions: convert TCP/IP requests to shared memory (SHM) requestsand route the converted SHM requests to the virtual server 212. Thepolicy agent 206 may be initialized with access to receive TCP/IPrequests sent by the clients 204 a-d that are destined for one or morevirtual servers 212. Additionally, the policy agent 206 may include aclient router 208 that may be connected with shared memory access to theserver router 210 or the deployed virtual server 212 directly. Forexample, in a local host 202 with clients 204 a-d, the policy agent 206may be installed and initialized to receive TCP/IP requests sent by theclients 204 a-d. If the client 204 a sends a TCP/IP request destined forthe virtual server 212, the policy agent 206 may receive the TCP/IPrequest from client 204 a. Once the virtual server 212 and the policyagent 206 have been installed and configured, the clients 204 a-d undertest may begin execution. At the start of testing, the clients 204 a-dmay generate and send out TCP/IP requests for processing by the virtualserver 212.

At 308, TCP/IP requests are converted to SHM requests by the policyagent 206. TCP/IP data packet requests (and responses) following TCPstandards add header data to the data segment payload (e.g., a readrequest) and then encapsulate the header/data segment into an InternetProtocol (IP) datagram for exchanging between peers (e.g., the client204 d and server 112). By leveraging the defined TCP/IP format, the IPand TCP headers may be identified and removed from the data segmentpayload by the policy agent 206, thereby extracting the data payload.Then, the data payload may be converted into a SHM format for use withinthe local host 202 to communicate with the virtual server 212 by addinga SHM header to the data payload. The SHM header may be generated basedon analyzing the removed TCP/IP header information. Thus, the TCP/IPheader information may be used to generate the SHM header.

For example, client 204 a may send a read request in a TCP/IP packagedestined for the virtual server 212 to perform a read operation. TheTCP/IP request may be received by the policy agent 206 from client 204a, whereupon receiving the TCP/IP packet, the policy agent 206 mayidentify the read request data payload from the TCP/IP headers. Then,the policy agent 206 may extract the read request data payload from theTCP/IP packet and analyze the TCP/IP headers to generate a SHM header.Finally, the generated SHM header may be added to the extracted readrequest data payload to complete the conversion from a TCP/IP readrequest to a SHM read request.

Next, at 310, the client testing program 110 a and 110 b determines ifthe TCP/IP to SHM conversion was successful. Successful TCP/IP to SHMpackage conversion may be determined using known methods. For example,the data payload in the SHM request may be compared with the originalTCP/IP request to determine that the data payload has not changed.According to at least one embodiment, a user may customize the recordedpayload data (e.g., after the TCP/IP packets are recorded and beforeclient testing begins) for testing purposes. When the user hascustomized the payload data, a successful TCP/IP to SHM conversion maybe determined when the customized payload data is accurately reflectedin the converted SHM request.

If the client testing program 110 a and 110 b determines that the TCP/IPto SHM conversion was not successful at 310, then information relatingto the request is collected at 312 for retrying the conversion fromTCP/IP to SHM. Information relating to the TCP/IP request may becollected, for example, by having the client 204 a-d resend the requestor by prompting a user to supply more payload customization data. Afterthe information relating to the request is collected, the TCP/IPconversion is performed again at 308.

However, if the client testing program 110 a and 110 b determines thatthe TCP/IP to SHM conversion was successful at 310, then the convertedSHM request is routed to the virtual server 212 at 314. The convertedSHM request may be dispatched by shared memory transport to thecorresponding virtual server 212 by the policy agent 206. Dispatchingmay be performed by the client router 208 within the policy agent 206.The client router 208 may identify the destination virtual server 212 byanalyzing the SHM segment header in the converted request. Once thedestination virtual server 212 is identified, the SHM request may besent by the client router 208 via a shared memory transport channel tothe server router 210. Thereafter, the server router 210 may route theSHM request to the virtual server 212.

Then, at 316, the virtual server 212 processes the SHM request and sendsa SHM reply. Once the virtual server 212 receives the SHM request viathe shared memory transport, the virtual server 212 within the localhost 202 may process the SHM request according to the logic the virtualserver 212 was generated to simulate (i.e., a service on the real server112). After processing the SHM request, the virtual server 212 maygenerate a reply for a client 204 a-d in a SHM format. For example, if aconverted SHM read request is received by the virtual server 212 fromclient 204 a, the virtual server 212 may perform the requested readoperation using a SHM call and use the resulting read data to generate aSHM reply for client 204 a.

At 318, the SHM reply is routed to the client 204 a-d. The virtualserver 212 may send the SHM reply to the server router 210, and theserver router 210 may in turn send the SHM reply directly to client 204a using shared memory transport. According to at least one embodiment,the server router 210 may send the SHM reply to the client router 208,and the client router 208 may send the SHM reply to the client 204 a-d.According to at least one other embodiment, if the SHM reply is sent tothe client router 208, then the policy agent 206 may convert the SHMreply into a TCP/IP reply and the client router 208 may deliver theconverted TCP/IP reply to the client 204 a-d.

It may be appreciated that FIGS. 2 and 3 provide only an illustration ofone embodiment and do not imply any limitations with regard to howdifferent embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted embodiment(s) may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram 900 of internal and external components ofcomputers depicted in FIG. 1 in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that FIG.4 provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not implyany limitations with regard to the environments in which differentembodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depictedenvironments may be made based on design and implementationrequirements.

Data processing system 902, 904 is representative of any electronicdevice capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Dataprocessing system 902, 904 may be representative of a smart phone, acomputer system, PDA, or other electronic devices. Examples of computingsystems, environments, and/or configurations that may represented bydata processing system 902, 904 include, but are not limited to,personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thickclients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputer systems, anddistributed cloud computing environments that include any of the abovesystems or devices.

User client computer 102 and network server 112 may include respectivesets of internal components 902 a, b and external components 904 a, billustrated in FIG. 4. Each of the sets of internal components 902 a, bincludes one or more processors 906, one or more computer-readable RAMs908, and one or more computer-readable ROMs 910 on one or more buses912, and one or more operating systems 914 and one or morecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 916. The one or moreoperating systems 914, the software program 108, and the client testingprogram 110 a in client computer 102, and the client testing program 110b in network server 112, may be stored on one or more computer-readabletangible storage devices 916 for execution by one or more processors 906via one or more RAMs 908 (which typically include cache memory). In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, each of the computer-readable tangiblestorage devices 916 is a magnetic disk storage device of an internalhard drive. Alternatively, each of the computer-readable tangiblestorage devices 916 is a semiconductor storage device such as ROM 910,EPROM, flash memory or any other computer-readable tangible storagedevice that can store a computer program and digital information.

Each set of internal components 902 a, b also includes a R/W drive orinterface 918 to read from and write to one or more portablecomputer-readable tangible storage devices 920 such as a CD-ROM, DVD,memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk orsemiconductor storage device. A software program, such as the softwareprogram 108 and the client testing program 110 a and 110 b, can bestored on one or more of the respective portable computer-readabletangible storage devices 920, read via the respective R/W drive orinterface 918, and loaded into the respective hard drive 916.

Each set of internal components 902 a, b may also include networkadapters (or switch port cards) or interfaces 922 such as a TCP/IPadapter cards, wireless wi-fi interface cards, or 3G or 4G wirelessinterface cards or other wired or wireless communication links. Thesoftware program 108 and the client testing program 110 a in clientcomputer 102 and the client testing program 110 b in network servercomputer 112 can be downloaded from an external computer (e.g., server)via a network (for example, the Internet, a local area network or other,wide area network) and respective network adapters or interfaces 922.From the network adapters (or switch port adaptors) or interfaces 922,the software program 108 and the client testing program 110 a in clientcomputer 102 and the client testing program 110 b in network servercomputer 112 are loaded into the respective hard drive 916. The networkmay comprise copper wires, optical fibers, wireless transmission,routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers.

Each of the sets of external components 904 a, b can include a computerdisplay monitor 924, a keyboard 926, and a computer mouse 928. Externalcomponents 904 a, b can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards,touch pads, pointing devices, and other human interface devices. Each ofthe sets of internal components 902 a, b also includes device drivers930 to interface to computer display monitor 924, keyboard 926, andcomputer mouse 928. The device drivers 930, R/W drive or interface 918,and network adapter or interface 922 comprise hardware and software(stored in storage device 916 and/or ROM 910).

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 5, illustrative cloud computing environment 1000is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 1000 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 100 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 1000A, desktop computer 1000B, laptopcomputer 1000C, and/or automobile computer system 1000N may communicate.Nodes 100 may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (notshown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such asPrivate, Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove,or a combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 1000to offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for whicha cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a localcomputing device. It is understood that the types of computing devices1000A-N shown in FIG. 5 are intended to be illustrative only and thatcomputing nodes 100 and cloud computing environment 1000 can communicatewith any type of computerized device over any type of network and/ornetwork addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 6, a set of functional abstraction layers 1100provided by cloud computing environment 1000 is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 6 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 1102 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 1104;RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 1106;servers 1108; blade servers 1110; storage devices 1112; and networks andnetworking components 1114. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 1116 and database software1118.

Virtualization layer 1120 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers1122; virtual storage 1124; virtual networks 1126, including virtualprivate networks; virtual applications and operating systems 1128; andvirtual clients 1130.

In one example, management layer 1132 may provide the functionsdescribed below. Resource provisioning 1134 provides dynamic procurementof computing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 1136provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 1138 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 1140provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 1142 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 1144 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 1146; software development and lifecycle management 1148;virtual classroom education delivery 1150; data analytics processing1152; transaction processing 1154; and client testing 1156. A clienttesting program 110 a, 110 b provides a way to test client servicesdesigned to communicate via TCP/IP with remote services in a localtesting environment with virtual services using shared memory transport.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer system for testing a client servicelocally using a shared memory transport, comprising: one or moreprocessors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or morecomputer-readable tangible storage media, and program instructionsstored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable tangiblestorage media for execution by at least one of the one or moreprocessors via at least one of the one or more computer-readablememories, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a methodcomprising: recording a plurality of interactions between the clientservice located in a local host and a real server; generating a virtualserver based on the recorded plurality of interactions; deploying thegenerated virtual server in the local host; executing the clientservice; receiving a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) request from the executing client service; identifying a TCPheader, an IP header, and a data payload within the received TCP/IPrequest; extracting the data payload from the TCP header and the IPheader; generating a shared memory header based on the received TCP/IPrequest; generating a shared memory request by appending the datapayload to the shared memory header; receiving a customized requestpayload; integrating the received customized request payload into theconverted shared memory request; sending the converted shared memoryrequest to the virtual server; receiving a shared memory reply from thevirtual server; and sending the received shared memory reply to theclient service.